Mega Millions continues to capture the nation's attention with an estimated $560 million jackpot up for grabs in the upcoming drawing on Tuesday, June 4. This follows Friday night's drawing, where no ticket matched all six numbers: the white balls 4, 11, 23, 33, and 49, along with the gold Mega Ball 23. If claimed at this level, it would be the ninth largest prize in the game's 22-year history. The jackpot has been growing since March 26, when a single ticket in New Jersey won a $1.128 billion prize, marking the first Mega Millions jackpot win of 2024.
While the top prize remains unclaimed, many players are finding success in other prize categories. The drawing on May 31 alone saw 914,572 winning tickets across various prize levels. Among these, one ticket sold in California matched all five white balls, securing the second-tier prize.
Nationwide, 33 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball, earning third-tier prizes. Six of these winners, who included the optional Megaplier for an extra $1, won $40,000 each, thanks to Friday night's 4X Megaplier. The remaining 27 third-tier winners will take home $10,000 each.
Since the last jackpot win on March 26, nearly 13.3 million winning tickets have been sold across all non-jackpot prize tiers in 19 drawings. These include 32 second-tier prizes of $1 million or more, distributed across 14 states: Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas. It's important to note that in California, prize amounts can vary as they are calculated on a pari-mutuel basis.
Mega Millions stands out as the only lottery game to have produced six jackpots exceeding $1 billion, each won in different states. The first billion-dollar prize was claimed in South Carolina in 2018, followed by Michigan in 2021, Illinois in 2022, Maine in early 2023, Florida in August 2023, and New Jersey in March 2024. The Florida prize of $1.602 billion remains the game's highest jackpot.
Tickets for Mega Millions are available in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands, costing $2 each. Most jurisdictions offer the option to add the Megaplier for an additional $1, which multiplies non-jackpot prizes. Half of the proceeds from each Mega Millions ticket sold stay in the state of purchase, supporting various good causes and retailer commissions.
Mega Millions drawings take place at 11 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays and Fridays in Atlanta, Georgia. The odds of winning any Mega Millions prize are 1 in 24, while the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.
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